Black Belt Blog - Mas Candido

Becoming a Black Belt

I’m going to tell a story about a particular moment during my black belt test, while I was fighting the first night.

During the fight, I remembered when I was 10 or 12 years old my father took me to the mountain to pick fruit that is only found during August and September when it is some of the hottest weather. We had to wake up early to catch the freshness of dawn and also to get the first pick of the fruit.

To get to where we needed to go took several hours. When we finally arrived, the sun was at its highest, the birds were chirping, and there was stillness in the dewy leaves. It was a beautiful moment in my life that I won’t forget.

We picked fruit up and down the mountain. As time flew by, the day got hotter. By the end of the day we finished all of our water so we had to go back home. I followed my father back home both of us not really saying much, but the few words he did say and holding my hand made me feel happy.

At one point, I felt really thirsty and I have never felt so thirsty. I told my dad and he said we were going to find water so I followed him down the mountain to the creek where we found a little dirty puddle with a bunch of leaves. My dad cleaned it a little bit and he drank first and he told me to drink too. I didn’t think about it being dirty and I didn’t care I felt like it was the best tasting water. Water had never tasted so good to me.

That night when I was fighting Mas Devin, Mas Will , Mas Max and many others, Pendekar Gerry and Mas Quinn were by my side telling me to keep going, to not give up.

For every punch that I was landing, I was getting 2-3 back from Mas Devin and Mas will. Pendekar Gerry and Mas Quinn kept encouraging me to keep going. They might think I wasn’t listening, but I was already so exhausted and so thirsty I remember when I wanted water so bad.

The fight felt infinite. At the end, I had the chance to get water. I tasted the water I had tasted many years ago with my father on the mountain.

I guess what I am trying to say is to not give up, keep fighting. There is always someone to help you keep going and there is always a reward at the end of the journey, even if it’s just a sip of water.

-Mas Candido